


Adventures in Baby Wrangling

by lunaseemoony



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Babies, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-02
Updated: 2016-09-02
Packaged: 2018-08-12 12:18:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,891
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7934347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunaseemoony/pseuds/lunaseemoony
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>While shopping for Mickey and Martha’s baby shower, the Doctor shares with Rose occasions when he helped others with their babies, wearing a baby carrier and dabbling in obstetrics.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Adventures in Baby Wrangling

**Author's Note:**

> Prompted by chiaroscuroverse and gingergallifreyan on tumblr. Thank you!

“Best baby store in the galaxy, right here Rose!” the Doctor cheered, holding up his hands in the air in front of a giant mall-sized baby store. Rose wouldn’t refute that claim, not if it really was that big on the inside.

They headed inside and Rose watched in shock (though really she wasn’t sure why she was surprised) as the Doctor became a kid in a candy store, racing a trolley down the first row of aisles with his feet on the bars. Rose apologized to the shopkeepers as she followed behind him at a leisurely pace. Eventually he’d stop. And he did, in the rocking chair section. Rose wiped her hand across her face as the Doctor tried out each one, humming in contemplation and voicing his mental notes as he plopped up and sat down. It was in moments like this that Rose wondered if he really was 900 years old and not five. But bless him, he was cute. Rose would give him that. 

“Just so you know if we’re getting Mickey and Martha a rocking chair you’re carrying it back to the TARDIS. And honestly we should be looking at more practical gifts, don’t you think?” 

“This is practical!” the Doctor argued, folding one leg over the other. 

She snorted. “And what do you know about babies anyway, Doctor?” 

He stood up and shoved his hands in his suede coat, straighting up in pride. “I’ll have you know, Rose Tyler, that I’m a baby _expert_. Got loads of experience, me.”

“Oh yeah? Prove it then.”

He started strutting down an aisle full of stuffed animals. “Don’t need to. It’s not my fault you weren’t present when I demonstrated my masterful baby wrangling skills.” 

Rose stopped and picked up a bear. “What?” 

“Remember on Maltrex after the hurricane? You were helping the orphanage and I took a group over the mountains?”

A few families had become separated by a hurricane on Maltrex, a planet dotted with little islands plagued by frequent tropical storms. While Rose helped the island’s tiny orphanage with their caved in roof and flooding the Doctor escorted the families over the mountain. With children and the elderly in tow he was more than happy to help them. But when one of the mothers tripped on a rock her husband had to help her walk the rest of the way. 

“So who - oh! YOU! Oh my god how could I have missed this? You and a baby. I can’t even imagine,” Rose teased. 

“I’ll have you know we got on swimmingly,” the Doctor turned up his nose as he started filling their trolley with gifts and relaying the story to her. 

Swimmingly might have been a bit of an exaggeration. The Doctor argued with the Maltrexan families in his charge over who should carry the baby. They all agreed that he should do it since he’d been nattering on about how to keep the little one calm anyway. He considered next time keeping his flapping mouth shut. He didn’t blame the little tyke at all though. Poor boy was exhausted, hungry, and wet from the rain. 

“You tied a baby wrap all on your own?” Rose asked, mouth agape. 

“I must say, Rose Tyler, that your continued surprise in my baby wrangling skills is a bit hurtful,” the Doctor feigned. 

Rose laughed. 

Being fair, figuring out the baby wrap wasn’t unlike untangling Christmas lights.  _“I know what I’m doing! Promise. I have done this before,”_ he’d said to several incredulous stares as he got his arm caught in the stupid contraption. In the end he resolved to take off his jumper and tie it around his waist, which helped him maneuver the baby wrap. 

 _“Now look here you. The fussin’ and moanin’ won’t change the situation. I don’t like this any more than you do, so if it’s all the same to you, button it so we can get you home and warm sooner, yeah?”_ he’d told the squalling little boy as he fitted him safely in the wrap. 

“Aww now Doctor that’s no way to speak to a baby. Bet that made it worse.”

“It might have, if I didn’t speak baby.”

Rose stopped in her tracks and the Doctor kept walking down the bedding aisle. “Now you’re havin’ me on.”

“I do!”

“All right then, what’d he say?”

“Not much, honestly. After I got him quiet he more or less ignored me. Figured if he didn’t acknowledge me that I’d go away.” 

Funnily enough most of the hike went this way. The wee one voiced his complaints when he was hungry, and the task of feeding him of course fell to the Doctor. That was an argument in itself. He was starving but the Doctor was very much not his mum, so he still put up a protest. He gave in when the Doctor convinced him it was of no consequence to him if he drank his bottle or not (a white lie, of course, not that the baby knew any different). 

When the temperature dropped as the sun fell the Doctor draped his coat over the baby boy so he wouldn’t freeze. Their pace slowed considerably after the Doctor took charge of the little one, but it couldn’t be helped. At times he was cupping the baby’s tiny feet in his hands while walking because his socks fell off and infants lost a lot of body heat through their feet. It wasn’t an ideal situation for a baby at all, but they made the best of it. 

“Oh my god,” Rose cooed, and grabbed the Doctor’s arm. “That’s so cute! Aww tell me you two became friends.”

The Doctor pouted his lower lip and nodded, waggling his head a little. “Well, yeah. I suppose. When somebody’s strapped to you for several hours you get to know them a little. But he did spend the second half of the hike over the mountain asleep.”

The Doctor had actually spent a good bit of the hike, once the little tyke finally accepted him, telling him about Rose. They hadn’t been traveling together that long, but he didn’t want to imagine going anywhere without her. He told the little one he was convinced he’d adore Rose if he met her. Who wouldn’t? At the time he wasn’t imagining Rose taking on the task of caring for the baby, but now that they were browsing a baby store he couldn’t help picturing it. 

Rose’s grin only grew and she hugged his arm with glee for a moment. “That’s so sweet. How good of you, taking care of him like that. You talking to babies and changing nappies, I would never have imagined. Next you’ll be telling me you deliver them too.”

“Well I _am_  a Doctor, Rose.”

Rose hopped around to the front of the trolley and blocked it. “You haven’t.”

“I’ve been known to dabble in obstetrics when it’s needed, yes,” the Doctor retorted with all the nonchalance he could muster. 

“Don’t tell me I missed this too.”

“You can ask Mickey about this one. He was there. You’d gotten yourself arrested, remember?”

“That civil war with all the bombs? You delivered a baby in that?” 

“You bet I did. With limited tools, too. A bunker is no delivery room, Rose. Dirty, cold, no blankets and no bed. That mum was as tough as nails, I’ll give her that.”

His grin was entirely too cheeky when he watched her reaction to this, face ripening as she imagined the wiry excitable Doctor helping a woman give birth. 

“Tell you what, Rose,” the Doctor continued. “We ought to be getting Mickey ready now, because he does _not_  handle birth well. At all.” 

Mickey had always had a bit of a sensitive stomach, so this didn’t surprise Rose at all. But what the Doctor was forgetting was he was incredibly dependable. He wouldn’t leave Martha’s side, Rose knew that much. Still, she was curious about what she’d missed. 

“What happened?” 

The Doctor leaned over the trolley and stared off as he began telling Rose the story. “It was after nightfall. I knew this woman was in labor but I’d been hoping the bombs would stop raining down so we could fetch a couple more medics. It’s not easy delivering a baby alone, Rose.”

“I thought you were in that bunker with a dozen people or something.”

“None of whom she knew.” The Doctor breathed in hard. “We spent a good bit of time arguing because she didn’t even want my help. She was convinced if she simply waited she could ‘hold it.’” Rose’s eyes widened but the Doctor continued. “She learned on her own that wasn’t true. Meanwhile your boy Mickey was shaking he was so terrified.”

“Well he’s Martha’s now,” Rose laughed. 

“Anyway, there wasn’t light in the bunker but fortunately I had a tiny torch. So I put Mickey to work holding it while I helped the woman deliver her baby. That was a tricky birth, Rose. Bombs shook the bunker which was already partly exposed. And since the stubborn little baby wanted to be born breech -”

“What’s that?”

“Bum first, Rose. It’s tricky business. This woman would’ve been much safer in a hospital. Not that I didn’t know what I was doing. I did! So happens I’d delivered a breech baby before. It was a baby giraffe. But same difference.”

Rose leaned in attentively. “What did you do?” 

“Well I delivered the baby of course. The mother wanted to pack it in a couple of times. But you know me Rose, never give up, eh? Put my gob to good use and just talked her through it. One step at a time. Calmly.”

Most of the time when the Doctor was calm during a crisis he was seething with anger and the dark clouds of the Oncoming Storm loomed overhead. But Rose could also imagine him taming his energetic side to help someone in need. He did have great focus, and a big heart. Hearts. 

“So did she do all right? Her and the baby were okay?” 

The Doctor rolled on his feet, pushing the trolley forward a bit. “Fit as fiddles! All thanks to yours truly and one hardworking mum.” He winked at Rose and started walking down the next aisle. “I’ve got loads of stories like that. Those are just the most recent.” 

Rose pursed her lips and dug her nails into her palms. She reminded herself to breathe, which despite all that she’d been through was still something she had to remind herself to do. Her heart rang excitement in her ears. 

“You’d make a great dad, Doctor.”

The Doctor beamed and nudged her playfully. “Think so?” 

“If you’d want to, yeah.” 

He hummed cheekily. “Oh I love being around children, they’re brilliant fun. Why, you taking auditions for the job, Rose Tyler?”

“Job’s already taken.”

He crashed into the shelves at the end of the aisle and paled. “What?” he croaked, voice cracking. 

Rose took the Doctor’s hand, knuckles white from gripping the trolley handle so tight. “You’re going to be a daddy, Doctor. If you want.” 

The Doctor scooped Rose up in his arms and twirled her around, peppering her face and neck with kisses. “Want? Oh, Rose! That’s fantastic, brilliant, perfect! We’re going to need a few more trolleys!” 


End file.
